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Festival Coverage

Hopscotch 2014 Day Party Wrap-Up

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Hopscotch Music Festival is by far my favorite weekend in Raleigh. There are countless shows by incredible international, national, and local acts every night. There is so much going on at any given point that it is impossible to be bored. The down-side of this though is sometimes there is too much going on at once and you have to miss one of your must see acts. But have no fear, day parties are here to save the day. Day parties give artists a chance to play different sets in different venues to some people who might have missed their late night sets. It’s also a place for some bands who aren’t a part of the festival (Spider Bags and Ex Hex) or a chance to see some truly incredible and rare collaborations (Mary Lattimore / Thurston Moore and Daniel Bachman / Nathan Bowles). The best part about these day parties is that they are free and some even provide free pizza!

Hopscotch just recently posted a comprehensive list of all of the incredible day parties taking place. I am going to highlight some of the ones that I am most excited about below, but definitely be sure to check out the full list as there are way too many heavy-hitters this year to include in this post.

Thursday, September 4th
Slim’s: noon – 5:00 p.m.
PotLuck presents The 2nd Annual Hopscotch Rock n’ Roll Pizza Party
Outside stage: Schooner (4:30), See Gulls (3:30), Lakes & Woods (2:30), North Elementary (1:30), Horizontal Hold (12:30)
Inside stage: Le Weekend (4:00), The Good Graces (3:00), Curtains (2:00), Beauty World (1:00) Rogue Band of Youth (12:00), Wichita Falls (11:30)
Sponsored by Lilly’s Pizza, Big Boss Brewing

On Thursday, we see the return of the 2nd Annual Hopscotch Rock n’ Roll Pizza Party at Slim’s. This party features free pizza provided by Lilly’s Pizza and is presented by Potluck featuring the best of the Potluck family and friends.

Friday, September 5th
Kings Barcade: noon – 5 p.m.
Three-Lobed Recordings/WXDU Day Show:
Mary Lattimore and Thurston Moore (4:20-5:00), MV&EE (3:30-4:00), Sunburned Hand of the Man (2:45-3:15), Little Black Egg Big Band (1:20-2:20), Jenks Miller and Rose Cross NC (12:30-1:00), Bachman-Bowles Duo (11:45-12:15), with between set improv work from Nathan Bowles and Mike Gangloff

On Friday, Three-Lobed Recordings and WXDU again bring some huge names to their day party at Kings. This showcase again features some spectacular collaborations and boasts the only performance of a lot of these people at the festival this year. Kicking off the day is DBB alum Daniel Bachman along with Daniel Bowles in their debut collaboration effort followed by special sets by Jenks Miller & Rose Cross NC, the debut of the Little Black Egg Big Band, and Sunburned Hand of the Man. The only repeat offenders of this festival will be MV&EE who promise a special set unique from their Thursday night performance. Once again, Thurston Moore closes out the party with another first-time collaboration effort with harpist Mary Lattimore. This party is once again destined to push Kings to capacity so get there early and why wouldn’t you?

Friday, September 5th
Nice Price Books: 1:30 – 5 p.m.
88.1 WKNC + 103.1 WUAG Present:
Matt Kivel, Krill, Palehound, Black Santa, Y’all, The Dinwiddies
Sponsored by Lilly’s Pizza

And of course, don’t forget WKNC and WUAG’s inaugural, collaborative day party taking place at Nice Price Books. Not to toot our own horn, but this show features 3 national acts that I am the most excited to see at this festival (Krill, Palehound, Matt Kivel). The show also features Greensboro greats Black Santa, ex-Invisible Hand rockers Y’ALL, and lo-fi swooners The Dinwiddies. Oh, and also free pizza by Lilly’s Pizza.

Friday, September 5th
Slim’s: noon – 5:30 p.m.
Churchkey Records, The Layabout, and Bull City Burger & Brewery Present: ¡Que Viva! 2014
Inside stage: Spider Bags (4:45), Gross Ghost (3:15), Scully (1:45), Silent Lunch (12:15)
Ouside Stage: Pipe (4:00), Las Rosas (2:30), The Everymen (1:00)

The line-up speaks for itself. Learn how to be in 3 places at once.

Saturday, September 6th
Warehouse District: noon – 5 p.m.
‘Babes in Boyland’ a Day Party in support of Girls Rock NC:
EX HEX, Caitlin Rose, Loamlands, The Tender Fruit
Partners: Videri Chocolate Factory, Baldwin, Slingshot Coffee, Pie Pushers, Chirba Chirba, Parlour Ice Cream, Planned Parenthood of NC, Humdinger Juice, TOPO Distillery

Boyland is the place to be on Saturday.  Durham’s The Tender Fruit kick things off followed by Loamlands’ catchy, twangy Southern rock and Nashville’s sweetheart Caitlin Rose. Mary Timony’s power-trio, Ex Hex, closes out the party with their infectious display of showmanship and musicianship. The show not only features incredible music, but also features a Bloody Mary bar by Ashley Christensen, Glowmosas by Humdinger Juice, Cold Press Coffee by Slingshot Coffee Company, Pie Pushers, Chirba Chirba Dumplings, and The Parlour. Not only does the line-up stand out in the list of day parties, but on a weekend filled by big names, things like food and alcohol definitely seem to tip the scale. Oh yeah, it also supports a great cause.

Categories
Local Music Music News and Interviews

Phian interviewed Coytah before they played Local Band Local Beer night at Tir Na Nog Irish Pub in Raleigh.

Three of their songs were played during the interview: On My Way, My Design and Summer In Paris.

You can listen to more of Coytah’s music on Reverb Nation and like them on Facebook.

Listen here.

Categories
Concert Review

Ska for A Cure

The Pressure Boys

The Connels

Dex Romweber Duo

AUGUST 8, 2014

The Be Loud! Sophie Foundation Benefit Concert at Cat’s Cradle was a huge success! $45,000 was raised between the two shows on August 8th (pictured above) and August 9th. Dex Romweber Duo opened, followed by The Connels, and east coast ska legends, The Pressure Boys, reuniting for only the second time in decades. The cult icons rocked the house, with fans both old and new traveling from as far as New Hampshire to see them play together for what might be the last time. 

This was my first ska show, but it definitely won’t be my last. Ska is for everyone. For those of you who don’t know, ska is a genre of music that includes fast guitar offbeats, walking basslines, and horns of all kinds. It’s fast, it’s complex, and it makes you want to dance. It was definitely the most fun I’ve had at a concert in a long time.

To learn more about the Be Loud! Sophie Foundation, visit http://beloudsophie.org

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Band/Artist Profile

Hopscotch Artist Profile: Ed Schrader’s Music Beat

Album art for "Party Jail," new release by Ed Schrader's Music Beat

“I didn’t like that second band,” said the kid I for whom I had just scored a free ticket to see Future Islands at Cat’s Cradle several years ago.

The ingrate was referring to Ed Schrader’s Music Beat. The performance was admittedly unconventional; on a dark stage, Ed Schrader stood over a snare drum with a bright light underneath it, so that his face was lit up the same way as when you hold a flashlight while telling a ghost story. “Rats!” He exclaimed maniacally, banging his drum to a fast rhythm.  I loved it.

A year or so later when I met Dan Deacon in Moore Square, he was wearing an Ed Schrader’s Music Beat t-shirt. They are all exemplary members of Baltimore’s Wham City scene, where it goes without saying that a live performance is a craft in its own right.

The 2-piece band’s live performance is a testament to the “less is more” persuasion.  If you just listen to their music, they still sound interesting – grungy, kind of no-wave – but their act is a spectacle to appreciate for the artful way in which they present the simplicity of their set up: two people, one with a bass and the other with a snare and a microphone on a stand.  A worklight. Symmetry. With only a few resources on stage, the band creates exceptional dimension.

Ed Schrader’s appearance in the Triangle coincides with the band’s August release of their new album Party Jail.  They will play Hopscotch Music Festival in Raleigh at CAM on Thursday, September 3rd between 10-11pm.

 -DJ Acorn

Categories
Music News and Interviews

Grant Golden of “Carolina Grown” sat down with members of Dark Water Rising on Aug. 8. Listen back to their conversation.

Categories
Music News and Interviews

Greg and Nathan from Hopscotch Music Fest LLC stopped by the station last week to chat with me about the state of the festival, its future, the triangle community, and music in general. You can listen to the extensive interview here. 

Our conversation had me thinking on some of the highlights from my experiences at past years attending the festival. Many of the most fun times I’ve had at Hopscotch or in Raleigh, or at live concerts in general have been sparked by the somewhat spontaneous nature of Hopscotch’s design. By so excellently pairing such interesting and unknown artists together with local acts or more established groups the festival creates an atmosphere that breeds discovery.

But while there are great sets at single venues at the same time the range of diversity and general quality of the festival brings always brings up conflicts and scavenger hunt style show attendance hopping. 

I remember at last year’s festival I went to CAM to see Horse Lords on a completely blind suggestion from a friend. Horse Lords have been described as “polyrhythmic krautrockers” that use intonation and repeating tropes in an entrancing psychedelic rock and roll kind of way. It doesn’t sound like the kind of thing that could be catchy or fun but IT WAS. The live performance had multitudes of energy and on top of that I got to have a conversation with Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner in the crowd. 

Its that kind of liberating feeling that any show you could walk into could be your next favorite band that has kept me coming to Hopscotch year after year and I hope you consider making some spontaneous choices this year as well. 

Categories
Band/Artist Profile

Artist Profile: Wild Fur

To start with the basics, Wild Fur is made up of duo Nick Jaegar (past member of Luego, The Tomahawks, Schooner, and Roman Candle)  and Wylie Hunter (past member of the Cazadores) from Durham, North Carolina. However, on live shows Nick and Wylie are joined by drummer Brad Porter (Some Army, Wichita Falls) and bassist Casey Toll (Mount Moriah). Digging a little deeper into the sound that Wild Fur produces, the best way to describe it is being infectiously dreamy with numerous emotion stirring rhythms. The first time I saw Wild Fur live was actually at WKNC’s Local Band Local Beer on August 14th at Tir Na Nog Irish Pub in Downtown Raleigh. It was at this performance that I truly realized Wild Fur’s ability to make the audience hang on to every word in their songs. There is some sort of connectivity between Wild Fur and their audience that is incomparable to any other band-audience relationship. Perhaps it is their lyrics that hit home with lines like “Carolina its been getting stranger as I find myself stuck in place,” or it’s their echoing vocals that seem to blend together in perfect harmonies that leave the audience begging for more.

With lots of experience under their belts, Jaegar and Hunter know what they are doing and are setting out to show everyone their utmost capabilities as musicians and performers. The overflowing talent of Wild Fur will undoubtedly reach far beyond Durham, and it is going to be really nice to say that I saw Wild Fur take the stage first on Thursday night at Lincoln Theater for the 2014 Hopscotch Music Festival. That being said, Wild Fur goes on at 8:30 PM on Thursday night at the Lincoln Theater, being the first act to open for the final act of that evening–The War on Drugs.    

 

Categories
Festival Coverage

Navigating Hopscotch

Hopscotch music festival will take over downtown Raleigh and crowds of music lovers will descend upon the city streets. With a fast-paced 160 bands in just 3 days, any prepared festival goer needs transportation options to match. Navigating Raleigh’s relatively square grid-like downtown blocks is not always as straightforward as it seems, so here are some tips for choosing the transport methods to best suit your festival schedule. [Bonus feature: a handy map of festival venues to get you started!]

“I have no wheels!”

Pedestrians get a few subtle perks in Raleigh. With City Plaza as epicenter of the festival, most of Fayetteville Street will be blocked off and only available to pedestrians. Crosswalks in downtown Raleigh are timed with the car traffic, no button mashing required! Simply wait your turn, and appreciate the few crosswalks around town that give a head start to pedestrians while everyone else is stopped.

Public transit in downtown Raleigh can connect your bipedal travel. Raleigh features two free bus routes: NCSU’s Wolfprowl and CAT’s R-Line. You can use Transloc on your computer or smart phone to track the location of the bus at any time. The Wolfprowl and the R-line share a stop on Morgan Street. The stops along Wilmington Street are close to most festival venues, and the route is lined with parking decks for the multi-modal Hopscotch’ers (see “I have four wheels!” below). Both buses run until at least 2am on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights so you don’t have to miss any of the festival action.

“I have two wheels!”

Raleigh doesn’t have any truly protected bike lanes, but it has an assortment of bike-friendly sharrows painted on many roads around town. The Capital Area Greenway Trail System can connect you to the festival action, particularly the Rocky Branch or Little Rock Trails.

Especially when biking on roads in the flow of traffic with cars, wear a helmet and ensure you have a functioning white light for the front and a red light for the back of your bike. Follow all traffic laws and bike predictably for the safest ride. There are lots of bike racks within a few blocks of Fayetteville Street, even a few cleverly shaped, so bring a handsome bike lock.

“I have four wheels”

Raleigh features parking decks are well-located surrounding the main attractions and venues in town. The decks are generally free after 7pm and on weekends, but special event parking is a $7 fee. Check out the city’s ParkLink for the most up to date guides, maps, and parking information. The R-line route is lined with parking decks for the multi-modal Hopscotch’ers (see “I have no wheels!” above).

Regardless of your preferred mode of travel, happy Hopscotch’ing! 

Categories
DJ Highlights

WKNC Lounges up for awards

Our sessions with Matthew E. White and T0W3RS have both been nominated in the National Student Production Awards at CBI! We make up half the nominations in the Best Vodcast – Television category. 

Huge thanks to everybody for your support of The Lounge over the last year!

It’s also never been a better time to revisit them: here’s Matthew E. White’s Big Love and T0W3RS’ The Situation.

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
Categories
Band/Artist Profile

Hopscotch Artist Profile: Sun Araw

One of my favorite parts of Hopscotch are the surprises each year. In the past, I never expected someone like harsh noise legend Merzbow to play in a place like Raleigh, or to discover the then-relatively-unknown Oneohtrix Point Never way back in 2011, two years before he made it big as an artist/internet troll. The pleasant obscurity I didn’t see coming this year wound up being Sun Araw.

The solo project of former Magic Lantern member Cameron Stallones, Sun Araw sounds like jumping into a cyber pool of jello and floating in it. Stallones fuses elements of old-school, 60’s psychedelia and contextualizes it in the retro future.

Like a lot of people, my first exposure to Sun Araw was in the 2012 video game Hotline Miami. Developed by Jonatan Söderström (a developer most well known for creating Adult Swim games), it was a fast-paced journey through the mind of a man under mind-control drugs as he wages war on the mob in 1980’s Miami. Its eerie, lo-fi atmosphere was complimented by its psychedelic electronic soundtrack. The first thing you encounter when starting up is this start menu, set to Sun Araw’s Horse Steppin’. He sets the stage for a wicked fever dream experience.

On Saturday, September 6th, you can experience Sun Araw’s wicked fever dream yourself. He takes the stage at Slim’s for a dimly-lit, intimate performance that should unsettle you, but in a good way. I’m looking forward to having another Hopscotch memory as unique as having my bones rattled at Merzbow.